“Love and Kindness Restored Me”
Charlotte Hugues Self has, for many years, been a familiar presence at Blue Ridge Community College’s Center for Lifelong Learning, sharing her love of…
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Out of the Black History Month Box
Shaun Boothe was inspired to create his The Unauthorized Biography Series after soul icon James Brown passed away in 2006. “Brown was a big…
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Banner Day
At the Columbus Fourth of July parade in 2000, veteran George Scofield watched the colors go by and noticed that no one stopped, no…
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“You Never Forget”
Dating back centuries, the ancient Chinese board game Mah Jongg has been a longstanding exercise in social interaction and cooperation. Rather than pointed…
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The Manor Reborn
It’s been four years since Flat Rock’s historic homes were last opened to visitors, but “50” has a definite ring, so the wait was…
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Shedding Light on the Dark Corner
Dean Campbell is the world’s leading authority on the history of a region that, for more than 175 years, no visitor was actually able…
Read MoreRare Oconee Bells are the true harbingers of mountain spring
Americana bigwigs Gillian Welch and David Rawlings wrote “Acony Bell,” one of their earliest songs, and titled their recording company — Acony Records —…
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Retired diplomat explains the complexities of the American/Chinese relationship
At this winter’s global economic summit in Davos, Switzerland, attention fell on the increasingly frayed economic relationship between the United States and China, as…
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Weft of Center
“With the modern and much smaller looms and the more modern designs, much interest has been awakened in the new, while the old will…
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Re-embracing the Vine that Ate the South
Edith Edwards, aka the Kudzu Queen, deep-fried her first kudzu leaf on August 22, 1981. Decades later, she still remembers dipping the fronds in cold tempura batter and then…
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